Focusing on current affairs and public relations, the Uncaged PR blog will look at my views on the world through the eyes of a PR student.

Weblogs

07/04/2011

So how dedicated are you Facebook and Twitter followers? If you were to ask them to unfollow one of your pages and follow another, how many would do so?

My question stems from a current dilemma caused by Facebook changing the 'groups' app and in doing so not carrying your existing followers over to the new format. This I imagine will cause a problem for many organisations that have an organisational Facebook group, leaving us all wondering how we get people to reconnect to our new Facebook page.

I’ll be the first to admit that our current Facebook group doesn’t have the largest amount of followers, but trying to get them all to follow our new page will be difficult. Did our current followers simply click the like button on Facebook after reading no more than five words? I often find myself clicking the like button on numerous comical groups base purely on their name, never to look at the content of the group I’ve liked. The Birmingham City relegation party 2011 been just one of many groups I’ve liked over the last six months.

Is it the case that ten out of every 100 followers are actually interested in our group or page, whilst the other 90 are committing the same offence as I commit on a weekly basis? I guess the only way to really judge this would be by monitoring the process of asking current group followers to start following our new page. I’d have to say that if you achieved just 10% moving over to the new page you’d have a small success. The 10% figure comes from our current success rate after just one week of informing members of the inevitable changes to our beloved Facebook group.

We are all aware of the limits that challenge us in social media use. Should it be trying not to bombard our followers with too many updates, trying to get them to ‘like’ our latest photo competition, or trying to get them to engage in conversation via our social media platforms. These are all complications we face in everyday use, with only small percentages of followers participating. Now what chance do we have in actually getting our followers to move with us as Facebook continues to develop and improve its services?

I’ve spent days thinking this over, trying to figure out how I achieve 100% success. In the end I’ve come to the conclusion that it just isn’t going to happen. Instead, I have decided that this should be a new start for our Facebook followers. A few messages to existing users will go out, but those that chose not to move with us will have to be left behind. Ideally we only want followers who are willing to engage with us as an organisation and help spread our messages further, so why should we aim for that 100% success rate? In my eyes we shouldn’t. It seems like an impossible task.

The issue with social media in healthcare has always been that the ones who follow our social media feeds are those that have a keen interest in health, and do not need healthcare messages forced down their necks. They are aware of the conditions and how to be tested, treated etc etc. Our issue is getting the attention of those that couldn’t care less about their health, and eat fatty foods and drink fizzy pop. Much like myself.

Does this mean all healthcare social media is hitting the wrong target audience, or do we merely hope that just a few of our followers spread the message further, with each retweet carrying a little extra weight behind it due to the retweeter. I also wonder if that makes someone who retweets and retweet and reretweeter?

Back to the point

My tactics to date have been to message our old followers once a week in a nice polite manner to inform them of the changes on the way. Let them know about what the new page has to offer. This I hope will be enough to encourage at least 25% of the current followers over to the new page, a figure we are close to hitting.

The point of starting up this blog was to engage with professionals and also students, to let people share and learn through scenarios such as this. It is for that reason I ask you all, how would you intend to do this? Have you ever had to do something similar? And, most of all, what do you think the large organisations will do to ensure they get a mass follower migration from old to new?

03/17/2011

I don’t like to start a blog by saying this but here I go again. I’m very sorry.

My apology stems from a good two months of solid university work. To break that down into more detail the work has consisted of Dissertation, Competitive Pitch, a 15 item portfolio of work and last but not least Corporate Relations. These few modules alone have led to a serious neglecting of my own blog, but more to the point the one and only Ptarmigan Academy blog. So let me fill you in with what’s been going on with the Ptarmigan Academy.

To do this properly let me take you back a month to the middle of February. Our work on Challenge66 continued and to ensure the campaign was a success our efforts to find celebrity endorsement had to be stepped up dramatically. Academy team captain Adam Burns – who takes on the role with the effort and determination only seen by Manchester United’s Nani trying to convince a referee he’s been fouled by faking an injury – had all the academy tweeting celebrities to hopefully raise the Challenge66 profile.

After a few days of solid tweeting celebs the girls efforts were rewarded by retweets from Coleen Rooney, Lorraine Kelley, Dame Kelley Holmes and a number of Sky Sports New presenters. The celeb tweeting also managed to bag one academy member Claire Thomas a twitter following subscription from Boy George. Lucky girl!

So a month down the line and the start date was in sight. On Wednesday 9 March Andy, Claire, Aimee and I (Andrew) attended a GNS radio day, in which Andy did a number of live and pre-recorded interviews with around 20 local BBC radio stations and also interviews with the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS). Whilst Andy tried to mention all of the sponsors of Challenge66 along with his all time favourite joke ‘not Yeti’ (this is a reference to Skoda donating two cars and Andy excited to reply ‘Not Yeti’ to anyone who asked him if they were near their next location) we all got a chance to listen in a record the number of mentions for each of the sponsors. This was a great day which revealed good sight into how these days run. I believe it was the first GNS day that any of the academy had ever attended.

Today the Challenge66 campaign finally got under way with an incredible launch day in Leeds. A number of students from the Leeds Metropolitan Events Management course played a huge part in arranging the event which saw ABF The Soliders’ Charity out in force and the Challenge66 tour bus parked on Leeds’ busiest shopping street Briggate. The event launch was also attended by Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson, who lost both his legs and suffered other horrific injuries during an explosion in Helmand Province in 2006.

It really was amazing to see the campaign come to life after all the hard work put in by the guys at Ptarmigan, ABF and Andy McMenemy and the whole Challenge66 team. All the local press were at the event including Yorkshire Evening Post, BBC Look North and ITV Calendar News as Andy started the first of 66 ultra marathons. Please click on the links below to catch some of the coverage achieved.

Now the campaign has got underway the work for the academy really starts. A media list for each of the 65 remaining cities has been drawn up and the tireless task of ring rounds begins.

I’d love to continue and fill you in with even more Challenge66 news but unfortunately I cannot see into the future. I do ask you all to keep up-to-date with this truly amazing campaign by visiting www.challenge66.org and also searching Twitter and Facebook for Challenge66.

11/18/2010

This is part one of a series of blogs which will look at Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), and Google AdWords.

The battle between SEO and Google AdWords has been a focus of conversation and debate between two close friends of mine in recent weeks; one representing SEO and the other Google AdWords. Now it would only be fair to state to readers of this post that each friend works within both of these fields so please accept that their views at times may be a little bias.

I have spoken to both camps in great detail over the last few weeks to get a better concept of the boundaries and future that each service can offer. As I get closer to the launch of the uncagedpr.co.uk site, I am eager to find out more about each service and which offers better value for money.

Google AdWords

The main aim of Google AdWords appears to be simple. If someone searches for a plumber in Doncaster, they will only see results for plumbers in Doncaster. The pay-per-click system work by allowing the searcher to find what they need easier with sponsored links, whilst providing a enquiry or sale for the advertiser.

Friend A, who just so happens to work for Google puts it like this: "Google AdWords has an advantage over other forms of advertising, such as newspaper adverts or handing out flyers. With these forms of advertising you can reach a large audience, but you cannot measure how much of that audience is interested in your product or service. Look at how many flyers get thrown in the bin without even being read. A newspaper may have thousands of readers, but how many of those readers are looking for a plumber at the exact time they are reading?

"With AdWords you only pay when someone has specifically gone out of their way to search for the product or service you provide. Therefore, the chances of a sale or an enquiry are much higher compared to these other forms of advertising. You can also measure your results and use the data to optimise and enhance your campaign, meaning you can get the most specific and relevant traffic possible."

Cost

The cost of your Google AdWords is calculated based on your competition, with each key word (or AdWord as the case may be) having its own price. However, this price is not set by Google, but by the amount that each business or individual bids for that word. I imagine this to be slightly like ebay's bidding system. Therefore if someone is bidding £1.50 for an AdWords - for example we will use Uncaged as our AdWord - to appear on the first page of the Google search, you will be required to bid £1.51 or more to appear there too.

To manage the amount you spend on your account you are asked to set a daily budget. This is the amount you are willing to spend to get the amount of clicks you want through to your site. Friend A explains further: "You can control the amount you spend by setting a daily budget. This is the amount you are willing to spend to get the amount of clicks you want through to your site. If you are bidding £1 per click and want 20 visitors a day, you will set your daily budget to £20 per day."

Summary

To give Google AdWords a fair evaluation and one you will all understand, I will look at its effectiveness for a student blogger and for businesses.

Please note: I will be doing an overall review and comparison on both SEO and Google AdWords in part three of this series.

Student bloggers

Currently I cannot pinpoint a reason for why Google AdWords would benefit a student blogger. It seems if you want to make a name for yourself by blogging you need to be an active member of the PR blogging scene, happy to challenge or agree with the views of others and have a good and relevant content within your blog. I personally see no reason as to why a potential employer would prefer you to have a sponsored ad on Google, rather than be top of the Goole search of your name. By holding the top spot of that 'natural search' (what Google calls a normal search) you are immediately showing you are an active member on the blogging or PR scene.

Businesses

This is where things become a lot brighter for Google AdWords. As mentioned above the use of Google AdWords for a business can be extremely beneficial. If you are a plumber in Doncaster, and someone searches Google by typing: Plumber Doncaster, the chances are that you will be appearing at the top of the search results in a not so pretty yellow box and also down the right hand side in the sponsored links column.

Obviously you need to consider that this is all determined by the daily budget you set, but also a key point for consideration is that should only four people click on your £1 per click link in a day, and your budget is £20 a day, you will only be charged £4.

Without fully completing my research into SEO, I'd already be putting my money on Google AdWords as the top runner for businesses. However, if you are a student blogger, I'd recommend you become more active with your field and start linking in with other bloggers. Just make sure you spend your student loan on books rather than a pay-per-click account with Google AdWords.

11/01/2010

A common goal shared by many PR students is to gain PR experience within as many organisations or agencies as possible. This looks great on your CV, helps you to build a strong and well-rounded portfolio whilst also developing your career.

But however much you enjoy these placements and get along with colleagues, you can still find the 9 till 5 office hours a little tedious if working in a dimly lit office with uncomfortable furniture.

So why not try your luck with the Google engineering office in Zurich? Creative spaces, private ski lift phone booths, rooms with massaging chairs and fish tanks and lets not forget the golden rule: 'No member of staff is to be further than 100m from food or drink at any time.'

10/26/2010

My name is Andrew Davies and I am currently studying for a BA(Hons) in Public Relations at Leeds Metropolitan University.

After a very successful year working in the communications team at NHS Leeds, I have returned to a student world that seems keen to embrace the social media movement.

Social media within the NHS is very new territory and an area that many IT departments would like to restrict staff access and involvement. However, I feel this has lead me to have limited knowledge and understanding of just how social media works.

For that reason I have decided to dive head first into the world of social media in an attempt to gain more experience and become more interactive in a ever-changing PR environment.

I hope that those who share my situation can follow this blog as we learn and grow together, as for the rest, please feel free to comment and help us all to develop further.